


The Shirt

by snaredrum



Series: lazuli sisters au [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, VERY lightly but better safe than sorry, a bunch of dumb teens being stupid, mainly about pearl and lapis but all these other characters are present, this is silly but it makes me laugh so here yall go
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:23:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22590148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaredrum/pseuds/snaredrum
Summary: "Instead of one or both of her parents, here to deliver bad news, or her sisters, here to receive the bad news with her, Pearl was greeted by the sight of one Lapis Lazuli, hunched over in her chair in front of the principal’s desk and wearing an oversized school hoodie that Pearl knew for a fact wasn’t hers. Lapis looked sheepish in a way she never did as she gave a weak grin and lifted her hand in a nervous wave. 'Hey, Pearl. I can explain.'"
Series: lazuli sisters au [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1625443
Comments: 2
Kudos: 28





	The Shirt

**Author's Note:**

> this is part of an au created by myself and vecillius on tumblr where the three lapis lazulis from the show are human sisters and it just kind of grew from there. there's not actually a ton of them in this fic, but it's going to be a series and there will definitely be more of them later on. for more info about the au, visit https://jettreno.tumblr.com/tagged/lazuli-sisters and https://vecillius.tumblr.com/tagged/lazuli-sisters
> 
> character guide:  
> celeste - mean lapis/curls  
> carmen - nice lapis/freckles  
> meg - yellow pearl  
> mar - blue pearl  
> rosalind - pink pearl

Three years. Pearl had gone through  _ three years _ of high school with no disciplinary action. She was a goddamn  _ model student _ : honor roll, near perfect attendance, star baseball player. So when her math class was interrupted by a call to the teacher’s school phone, and the teacher fixed her with an owlish look and a  _ Pearl, you’re needed at the principal’s office _ , she could only assume some disaster at home had occurred. 

And so of course, she got herself all worked up as she panicked down the hallway, breaking into an anxious little half-jog when the suspense got too much. She took a deep breath to compose herself before throwing open the office door. 

“Miss Ryan, thank you for joining us.” The principal’s voice was the first thing she heard.

Instead of one or both of her parents, here to deliver bad news, or her sisters, here to receive the bad news with her, she was greeted by the sight of one Lapis Lazuli, hunched over in her chair in front of the principal’s desk and wearing an oversized school hoodie that Pearl knew for a fact wasn’t hers. Lapis looked sheepish in a way she never did as she gave a weak grin and lifted her hand in a nervous wave. “Hey, Pearl. I can explain.”

Recovering from her anxiety – and replacing it with a new one – Pearl looked between her and the principal’s icy stare.

The explanation better be good.

***

The explanation was terrible.

An hour after school ended, Pearl had gathered with everyone else in Rose and Greg’s garage for “band practice” (though The Crystal Gems rarely practiced at these meetings, and certainly never played out), and she was fuming on the couch. She didn’t usually fume, but she felt she earned this. She deserved to fume. 

The room was quieter than usual. Carmen was draped across the arms of the recliner, as opposed to using it to recline, and scrolling through her phone. Celeste sat on the floor, leaning against the front of the recliner, typing something on her laptop. Every so often, she would cast a glance toward Lapis. Meg and Mar had given up on trying to console Pearl on the car ride over, and now stood by the drums, drinking Coke and placing bets on how much actual music they would play today. Rosalind sat on a folding chair, taking selfies on her phone and – based on how Carmen would intermittently laugh and take a selfie of her own – snapchatting them to Carmen, despite being in the same room. 

On the floor, leaning against the wall, Garnet and Peridot sat together. Garnet played a relaxing tune on her keytar, and Peridot absentmindedly clicked the dud switch she had installed on her prosthetic arm. Her eyes wandered around the room, but Pearl couldn’t help but notice them lingering on Lapis and Pearl herself. 

As for Lapis, she was sitting at the keyboard on the other side of the garage. Her eyes were fixed on her sheet music, but she made no move to play. Despite the sweltering heat outside mixing with the cramped garage air, she still wore the hoodie the school had given her. To her credit, she seemed to genuinely feel bad – she has apologized as soon as they had gotten out of the meeting, and had barely spoken to anyone since she and her sisters had arrived at the Universes’. 

But Pearl didn’t feel like giving her credit. 

“Heyyyyy Pierogi,” a voice behind her called, signaling Amethyst and Jasper’s arrival. That was all the warning she got before Amethyst vaulted over the back of the couch and landed next to Pearl in a lounging position. “I heard you got called to the principal’s office today. Did they make up some new award just to give you?”

Now even the room’s ambient noise cut out as everyone turned to Pearl. Lapis ducked her head. 

The movement was not lost on Pearl. She sat up straighter and crossed her legs, looking Lapis dead in the eyes. “Lapis, would you care to explain?” 

By the look on her face – eyes wide, expression caught off guard – she did not. She stammered, “I – okay, well – okay. This morning I woke up super late and was half asleep when I got ready, and just put on the first shirt I found and –” She groaned, and pulled off the hoodie.

She was wearing a plain white shirt that read “ _ PEARL HATES THE IRISH _ ” in bold letters across the front. “We both got called in for ‘promoting hateful attitudes.’” 

A second went by. Then Amethyst burst out laughing. 

The shirt was not an unfamiliar sight. In fact, all of them had one, Pearl included. It had started as a gag made after Pearl gave a presentation on the Irish potato famine in her history class, and snowballed from there, culminating in Meg and Mar going all in and printing a shirt for each of them. But there was an unspoken agreement to minimize their use in public.

Jasper, the only other person who hadn’t yet heard the full story, doubled over, using the couch’s back to support her. “You,” she got out between laughs, “ _ went to school in it _ ?” Amethyst wheezed.

“I didn’t look, okay! I didn’t really wake up until second period. And I didn’t get sent to the principal until third.”

“And you two,” Amethyst finally managed, pointing between Celeste and Carmen, “you two didn’t  _ stop her _ ?” 

The two exchanged a look. “We didn’t really…” Celeste began, shrugging, “think about it.” 

Jasper stood back up fully, and – was she wiping a tear from her eye? Pearl rolled hers. “Oh my god,” Jasper sighed. “Bob, you’ve outdone yourself.”

Lapis’s lack of response spoke volumes. Carmen and Celeste were the only ones she let call her Bob – rarely anyone else, and never Jasper. But this time, she said nothing.

Amethyst sat up, having (mostly) recovered from her fit, and threw her arm across the back of the couch. “Did you like, actually get in trouble?” she asked Pearl, leaning forward in anticipation.

Pearl looked back over at Lapis, who was still hunched in on herself, looking for all the world like she wanted to disappear. She and Pearl constantly argued, that was just how their friendship worked. But Lapis had never gotten Pearl called into the principal’s office before. Then again, Lapis had never been so subdued after pissing off Pearl before. It was, Pearl realized, uncomfortable to see Lapis so self-loathing. Her anger abated.

She sighed. “No, it’s fine. It was more embarrassing than anything else. Lapis explained everything, I didn’t get in trouble at all. Actually, she had it worse than I did.” 

Everyone turned to Lapis. She was looking less anxious now, Pearl noted gladly; her lips twitched up in a smug smile. “Yeah, I have detention tomorrow. Because while ‘Pearl is not responsible for the jokes made at her own expense,  _ you _ are responsible for promoting hate speech on campus.’” She put the last part in air quotes and made her voice deeper, as if that had been the principal’s argument and not her own. Well, if she wasn’t going to tell them, then Pearl wouldn’t either. 

Pearl shook her head. “You’re the worst,” she said, but there was no bite in it.

Lapis smiled, taking in the unspoken truce, before putting her hand over her heart with an exaggerated gasp. “Is it because I’m Irish?”

“You’re half Irish.”

Carmen snorted. “So do you half hate us?”

“I’m Irish too!” Pearl shouted back, throwing her hands out. She looked to Meg, Mar, and Rosalind for support, but based on their expressions they were more than content to sit back and watch the show. 

“Okay first of all, you are also half Irish, and second, it’s only by ancestry. My mom is from Ireland! Can’t get much more Irish than that,” Lapis said.

Celeste nodded. “It’s true, Pearl.”

“And I can speak Gaelic!” Lapis continued.

Now Celeste frowned. “Okay, that one’s not true.”

“You think  _ Mom _ would have ever taught us Gaelic?” Carmen laughed.

“I can say  _ go hlfreann leat _ !” countered Lapis.

Carmen rolled her eyes, grinning. “Mom telling you to go to hell does not count as teaching.” 

“Alright,” Garnet interrupted as she stood up, her flat voice commanding the room’s attention (which Pearl was grateful for; it was better to stop the Lazulis before they could get the ball rolling on this particular topic), “are we going to practice today or what?” 

Amethyst barked out a laugh. “I mean, do we usually?” 

“I’m being optimistic.” 

“I respect your optimism, even if it is unwarranted,” Peridot said, standing up and walking over to the couch. “Move,” she said to Amethyst. “The couch is reserved for non-band members.” 

“I don’t understand why y’all show up if you’re not gonna join the band,” Amethyst groaned, but she and Pearl stood up regardless. As they did so, everyone not in the band – Peridot, Jasper, Meg, Rosalind, and Carmen – dashed for the couch, trying to get there before Jasper could throw herself into it. The act was in vain; only Peridot had managed to sit down before Jasper jumped on and laid herself across it, draping her legs over Peridot’s lap.

“Because,” Jasper drawled, pretending not to hear the complaints of everyone who had been denied a seat, “I don’t trust you to drive yourself. Also, it’s fun to watch the shitshow.”

The sisters launched into the same argument they had every meeting. Tuning them out was a skill Pearl had honed to an art. Grabbing her violin, she walked over to Lapis. 

“Congrats, Peri!” Lapis cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted over the noise as Pearl approached. From her place on the couch, Peridot beamed and gave a thumbs up. 

Lapis returned the gesture, and then turned to Pearl. The smile she had worn while cheering for Peridot faded a bit, embarrassment creeping in along the edges. “Hey, I’m sorry again. It was really stupid.”

Pearl waved her hand in what she hoped was a gesture of friendly dismissal.  _ Acting casual _ was not one of her strong suits. “Oh, it’s fine. Besides, it didn’t end up on my record, and the only class I missed was math. We weren’t learning anything I didn’t already know.” She chuckled. “And I concede, it is pretty funny.”

The remaining tension drained out of Lapis. Grinning, she started to play a funeral dirge on her keyboard. “This isn’t for you – it’s for the hour of my life I’m never getting back from detention tomorrow.” 

“I’m very sorry for your loss,” Pearl replied. The room had devolved into chaos. Everyone was arguing, either about what to play today or trying to get Jasper to let others onto the couch. Those with instruments to tune did so, adding to the cacophony. Pearl fit her violin under her chin and began to warm up. Adding one more layer to this wall of sound wouldn’t do any harm.

“Thank you,” Lapis said, continuing her dirge. “It means the world.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! if you have any comments or questions or typo corrections, pls let me know in the comments! and vecillius has a ton of cool art for this au on his blog, so check him out if you want!  
> \- snaredrum


End file.
